Cleveland, OH
Hey, Cleveland, Nick Chubb plans to ‘pay ya back’ for all you’ve given him, beginning with his return on Sunday
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Hey, Cleveland, Nick Chubb has your back, but you already knew that.
He also knows that you have his. And his heart.
On Sunday, the Dark Knight will Rise again at Cleveland Browns Stadium, with Chubb making his historic return to the field after his second major knee reconstruction, the kind that would fell most non-super heroes. But not Chubb, who long adopted the Batman personna and made himself seemingly invincible.
Pouring out his heart in a Players’ Tribune essay, Chubb describes his two major reconstructions, and being raised by his mom in Georgia, who is his why.
He, of course, intended to come back and help a winning team get the Browns into the playoffs — not a 1-5 team try to salvage and almost-lost season.
But that’s what superheroes are all about, achieving the impossible.
Here’s the final part of Chubb’s essay, beginning after he tumbled out of the first round of the 2018 draft:
I had to go to bed that night not knowing who was going to call my name.
Next morning, I got to the high school for a workout, and Mike Worthington is on his phone … and we already established how Mike Worthington is a little crazy … so he comes up to me and shows me his phone. He’s got ESPN up.
It’s the draft order.
He’s pointing at no. 35.
All he says is, “Man, when they call you tonight, don’t pick up the damn phone.”
He’s pointing right at the Browns logo.
Now remember, the Browns had just gone Zero and 16. Zero and 16. I wasn’t hating on the Browns, but all I’m saying is, you weren’t exactly picking them in Madden. It was the dark days.
“Don’t pick up the damn phone.”
So of course, that night, we’re all back at the Buffalo Wild Wings, and a couple minutes into Round 2, I get a phone call.
216.
I see that Cleveland, OH pop up on my caller ID.
I go numb.
Honestly, can’t even really remember what the coaches said to me, because my family was all jumping up and down and screaming and I could barely hear anything.
I look up at the TVs, and I see the legend, the GOAT, Jim Brown coming up to the podium to announce the pick for the Browns.
Still can’t hear anything. Everybody going nuts….
Then I see my name flash up on the screen.
RB NICK CHUBB — GEORGIA.
216.
Cleveland, OH.
That was the best phone call I ever got.
I turned to my mom like, “You know as soon as I get a couple of those NFL checks, I’m retiring you, right?”
The Browns changed my life that night, but more importantly, they changed my family’s life.
Now I think you understand what I mean when I tell you I was meant for this city. I’ve tried to work my ass off every day to get us where we need to go, and even though we have gotten close, I feel like I have serious unfinished business. That’s why it hurt me so bad to go down last season. We were just starting to cook……
I can’t stop until I prove to everybody that I’m the undisputed best running back in this league, and I definitely can’t stop until we get the Browns back to the top of the AFC. It’s been too damn long. Thank God that I healed.
Thank God that I can continue to play this great game.
Thank God that I get the chance to run it back.
You want to hear what the Browns told my agent, by the way?
When my agent called me to tell me the news, he said, “I’ve never actually had a front office tell me anything like this. But they said that part of the reason they never entertained cutting you is because of how much you mean to the city.”
That really meant the world to me. Look, I know the deal. I had no guaranteed money left. The Browns had all the leverage. They could’ve left me high and dry, like so many guys in this league. But they had my back. You all had my back.
That’s enough talking for me. There’s only one thing left to do now. I gotta pay ya back.
These rocks ain’t going to move themselves. Let’s work.
— Nick
Garion Thorne gives you a preview, prediction and pick for tonight’s game between the Houston Astros and the Cleveland Guardians.
Few teams needed a win last night more than the Astros.
Houston came into Monday’s action having lost 12 of its past 14 games, while also having lost nearly as many pitchers — at least it feels that way. Just take a quick glance at this club’s IL. Hunter Brown (shoulder), Tatsuya Imai (fatigue), Cristian Javier (shoulder). Those aren’t losses that are easy to survive, and the Astros have understandably been struggling. However, after a dominating 9-2 victory, Houston can at least take a small breath.
Can the Astros make it two in a row this evening? Or will the Guardians bounce back? Let’s preview this AL clash and make a couple picks on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
Astros vs. Guardians prediction, preview
So, remember that list of injured Astros pitchers I just recited? The consequence of the length of that list, is that you have to start people like Ryan Weiss. That’s not to suggest that Weiss is completely without promise — he was a stud in the KBO in 2024 and 2025 — it’s just that the right-hander’s MLB career has gotten off to a slightly rocky start, and it’s clear that Houston currently prefers the 29-year-old as a reliever. In 14.2 innings of work, Weiss has racked up 18 strikeouts, but he’s also surrendered four home runs, 11 earned runs, and a sixth percentile opponent hard hit rate (54.5%). Weiss isn’t quite built up to be a starter, either. Well, at least not fully, as he threw a season-high 76 pitches in his last outing. That means we’re probably going to have to see a lot of the Astros’ bullpen on Tuesday, which is not a good thing. Houston’s RPs rank 29th in ERA (5.66) and they’ve served up a league-high 1.89 opponent home runs per nine. Yikes.
On the other side of this pitching matchup, we find another starter with little major league experience. That said, Parker Messick already looks like another developmental success story of the Guardians’ pitcher factory. The former second-round pick debuted in 2025, maintaining a 2.72 ERA and a 2.98 FIP across seven starts. If possible, Messick’s looked even better so far in 2026, allowing a mere three earned runs over 25.2 innings. Now, a .200 BABIP isn’t going to sustain. Neither is a 91.4% strand rate. However, when you’re limiting opponents to a 3.3% barrel rate and a 29.5% hard hit rate, you might just get a little “lucky” from time to time. It’s not like the southpaw has been skating by on a soft schedule, either. Messick has faced the Dodgers, the Braves, the Cubs and the Orioles. There isn’t a single cakewalk in there.
That pattern of difficult matchups will continue on Tuesday, as well. For as underwhelming as the Astros’ record is, it’s mostly a byproduct of poor pitching. The offense has actually been one of the best in all of baseball. Houston actually leads all American League teams in wOBA (.350) and wRC+ (124), with Yordan Alvarez leading the charge. He’s been fantastic in left-on-left scenarios, too. In his 36 plate appearances within the split, Alvarez is slashing .448/.528/1.034 with a 315 wRC+. I don’t want to discount Jose Ramirez, who has six homers and 10 stolen bases for the Guardians, yet a healthy Alvarez is easily the best bat in this series. He’s that good.
Astros vs. Guardians pick, best bet
Best Bet: Jose Ramirez 2+ Total Bases (+107)
Weiss has a 6.27 FIP. The Astros’ bullpen has given up the most opponent home runs per nine (1.89). Ramirez probably won’t be in a single bad matchup this evening, and that’s before you factor in that the All-Star is a switch-hitter.
Strong Lean: Ryan Weiss 4+ Strikeouts (+123)
While Weiss’ surface numbers aren’t great, he has managed four strikeouts in two of his three outings where he’s thrown 60+ pitches. He’s struck out 18 in 14.2 innings and I expect he’ll flirt with the 90-pitch plateau on Tuesday.
Cleveland, OH
Cleveland Browns News and Rumors 4/21/26: You’ll Take this Draft Speculation and You’ll Like It
CLEVELAND, Ohio (TheOBR.com) – Hello, Cleveland Browns fans!
Three days until the NFL Draft. Three. Days. My coffee is strong, my patience for mock drafts is not, and somewhere out there, a draftnik is writing his 47th “why the Browns should definitely pick X at 6” piece. We have arrived at the point in the calendar where every possible permutation has been considered, rejected, re-considered, and published. And yet, here I am, starring articles and talking about them, so who am I to judge?
THE DEFAULT SOLUTION: Over at the Chronicle-Telegram, Scott Petrak profiled Carnell Tate as the king of contested catch – the latest in a long line of Ohio State receivers, and it ties in nicely with a topic we talked about during last night’s Gang of Three.
At this point, there’s no consensus among the draftniks and the mock drafters on who the Browns will take at #6. There have been at various points, but now you’re getting random answers. “Trade down” seems to be the leader, but that may not happen because other teams above the Browns are thinking the same thing, which could screw things up for Andrew Berry and crew. The fallback then seems to be WR Carnell Tate (according to media consensus), but I sense that the massive ecosystem of draft “experts” and wannabe experts has long grown bored with this idea and decided that the Browns shouldn’t “settle” on Tate. So, we’re seeing defensive BPAs and others show up frequently.
But let’s go back to something I’ve said before – mock drafts are often more accurate earlier in the process than later, when the people writing them get bored with the obvious and start throwing curveballs into the mock drafts to keep themselves amused. At the end of the day, if the NFL trading game isn’t cooperating with the Browns, there’s still a very good chance that Tate will be the selection.
So, I advanced this notion last night, and we came back to the original thought that Tate was still a damn good pick at that point, even if one of our crew has been advocating for Makai Lemon for months. As an unabashed Buckeye fan, I’m coming full circle on this idea.
CAMP MONKEN STARTS: Let’s start with the one piece of actual new news: Todd Monken’s voluntary minicamp wrapped with plenty of questions, especially at QB. I’ll spare you my fatigue on that particular topic – we’ve been over the QB situation enough times that my keyboard is starting to file a grievance. Suffice to say: the Browns do not have their quarterback, and the draft is unlikely to fully solve that.
What we do have is a different philosophy on the QB competition, where the facade that all contestants are treated equally is being discarded. This will also give us our first look at the post-Achilles Deshaun Watson, to see if he looks in any way different from the Watson of recent years, who offered little after kickoff in real games. We’ll have Fred Greetham and Pete Smith out at practice today, and expect to hear from them later this afternoon.
Gang of Three, Three Days Away edition is available on YouTube if you missed it. Thursday, we light up the Draft Cave for the full first round. Strap in – we’re almost there.
Have a good one! GO BROWNS!
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THE LIFT
Positive news from the world of sports and beyond…
I had computer problems this morning, and the stories I saved for the Lift were lost, a tragedy so intense that I’m struggling to write about it. Suffice it to say, somewhere there’s a human being awesome to animals, or a dog returning that favor. One article I do remember was about a sequel to the 1980’s underrated sci-fi movie “The Last Starfighter” being developed as a graphic novel. That movie looked like a Star Wars rip-off when it came out, but turned out to be a surprisingly fun movie. Not sure if I’m the only one who remembers it, but I have fond memories of seeing it in the theater.
WRAPPING UP
When not remembering when he had L33t video game skills, Barry McBride is the Publisher and Founder of the OBR and bloviates this nonsense every morning. You can follow him on Twitter @barrymcbride or write him at barry@theobr.com if you are so compelled.
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